Does anyone have recommendations for breaking down 4’ x 8’ sheet goods easily? Maybe plans to make a jig to simplify this task or a tool purchase? Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.

There are many ways to do this and all except TS require prep and jigs.

 1. Use foam insulboard on the floor. Make a jig for the saw to run on and clamp it to board. When you cut thru the ply the cut also cuts the foam board slightly.

 

2. Use the same jig but do it on sawhorses with 2x creating a double H with the saw horse. Cut between 2x.

 

3. many other jigs that require construction. One is a jig mounted on the wall.

 

 

 

 

it's easy to do in my full sized shop, but years ago, i had to make do with a cheap ($200) Ryobi TS with very little out feed capacity.  so i also bought an infeed and an outfeed roller stand.  i was building some bookcases at my sister's house, and could not transport my full sized TS.  ripping lengthwise, set the fence, let the roller stands support and catch the stock coming and going.  crosscutting, move one roller stand to about even with the blade, so the stock is supported beyond the width of the TS table.

 

it's doable, but requires a little thinking and set up.

Help us out. What tools do you have for this task?

 

If a circular saw then some sawhorses, cross support, straight edge from the Borg, couple clamps and set to your saw blade for a cut.

I'm with Gerald.   I made a grid like the video shows, but half-lapped the joints so there's no screws in it.  Cut away and when it gets nasty flip it over.   I have a 2' and 4' edge guide that self clamps on a piece and guides a circular saw (or router, or jig saw, or whatever)   If I need the full 8' I have a jig made from scrap that I clamp on.   Any straight board or metal L would do, but mine has a 1/4" plywood base.   I also have a small square piece of wood that sits in my circular saw box that shows where the saw will cut on left and right sides and use that to set up the edge guide after I've marked where my cut will be.

 

A lot of people get a 1" or 2" piece of foam and put that one the floor and cut on that.

 

Or you could spring for a track $aw from various vendors, the Kreg system that guides a circular saw, or any others, if you want to spend more $.

 

I rough cut my plywood slightly oversized and do the finish cut on the table saw or miter saw.

Like Keith, I made my grid with 1/2 laps, and it disassembles for storage. For a long time I used a circ saw and a Sears aluminum cutting guide. Somewhere along the line I stepped up to a track saw. Bit a shop made guide or one of the alternatives work just as well.  My grid has since kinda fell apart and I need to make another one, the last one was plywood (cut into strips) but I think the next one will be solid wood.

I like that first video Gerald, wish I had seen that last year when I was building kitchen cabinets!

I have not done anything fancy, I use two sawhorses and my truck.  With the sawhorses the same height as the truck bed I use the truck and one horse to support the longer piece of ply, use the second horse set at an angle to support the offcut.  Make the offcut a bit oversize and trim on the tablesaw.

One benefit to this is that I do not have to wrestle full size sheets of ply at all for a crosscut.

Could not guess how many sheets of ply and osb I've cut down this way.

 

I will have to rethink this now that I've traded my truck in.

I use essentially the same jig as in the video and if I use sawhorses I just lay 2X4’s across them for support. Generally I can use a combo of ripping them on the TS and then using the crosscut sled on the Shopsmith to cut to size. 
Paul

This is what we use for cutting table tops at the furniture bank.   Initially, I thought it unnecessary.  But it does a good job.   But probably too much for a garage woodworker.  Us old f*rts have a hard time moving those 100 lb sheets around

 

On 11/23/2020 at 4:01 PM, Gunny said:

Help us out. What tools do you have for this task?

 

If a circular saw then some sawhorses, cross support, straight edge from the Borg, couple clamps and set to your saw blade for a cut.

Using circular saw to cut down sheets to manageable sizes

Thank you all for advice!!!

I know we have many fancy tools you can buy. But for an occasional project I just use old tried and true method.

 

On 11/23/2020 at 3:48 PM, Mark Wilson said:

breaking down 4’ x 8’ sheet goods

I put some scrap on a large table  or  before I built the table it was the garage  floor or driveway  I lay the sheet on that and   clamp a guide board to it and run a skill saw along  it.

https://www.getrotorazer.com/?mid=9506964

 

This little tool will make it easier to make the cuts.  It is expensive and Harbor Freight has one that is cheaper, but this is not as heavy as a 14 pound circular saw.  Use your straight edge, run this shoe along it and it will cut to about 3/4" deep.  So, this is easy for us old folks.  Harbor Freight...https://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-75-amp-heavy-duty-double-cut-saw-63408.html?ccdenc=eyJjb2RlIjoiMTUzOTYwMDIiLCJza3UiOiI2MzQwOCIsImlzIjoiNDYuNzQxNSJ9&cid=paid_google|||63408&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8dH-BRD_ARIsAC24umb0_yPbCUzqR-hCvjBqXPDDWNccCnz0hzi08PtyJJgeSjSMo5zWHJAaAthfEALw_wcB

 

It doesn't look as good.  Take a look on Wish.com and it is rather affordable.  It just takes about 1 month for it to come from Wish, but they have a really nice kit.  

https://www.wish.com/product/5eed897e3024197ebe14b902?hide_login_modal=true&from_ad=goog_shopping&_display_country_code=US&_force_currency_code=USD&pid=googleadwords_int&c={campaignId}&ad_cid=5eed897e3024197ebe14b902&ad_cc=US&ad_lang=EN&ad_curr=USD&ad_price=55.45&campaign_id=7203534630&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8dH-BRD_ARIsAC24umYTaPkpTem9OAaw3dkAybiadJWNlTPL5OyS_f0k0ohVUU9vIPWu6ZIaAv-FEALw_wcB&share=web

 

I have my eye on one of these from Wish.  Maybe, when I get this overwhelming tax refund.  It will cover this, I hope.  LOL

 

 

 

 

On 11/23/2020 at 5:01 PM, Gunny said:

Help us out. What tools do you have for this task?

 

If a circular saw then some sawhorses, cross support, straight edge from the Borg, couple clamps and set to your saw blade for a cut.

Me too.  

If you buy more than one sheet, you can use the factory edge from one as the guide to cut the other, with appropriate spacers.

Also, I've found that you need a circular saw with a good thick shoe plate.  If it's just 1/8" flat metal, it can slide under your straightedge.

Jim

 

Edited December 13, 20205 yr by JimM
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6 hours ago, JimM said:

I've found that you need a circular saw

I was never so smart that I wrote those dimensions on the saw.  

Can you believe that?

If made a list of all the things it took me till I was in my 60s to figure out I'd have to shoot myself.

1 minute ago, Cliff said:

till I was in my 60s to figure out

Don't feel bad - it took me over 60 years to learn to keep my mouth shut.  And I still have frequent relapses.